following – Page 10 – 300 words a day

Don’t plan. Prepare

I’m built for the second chair. That’s the associate, the person that helps accomplish the vision, that makes sure the room is ready, that helps the stories be told, that translates. I love this calling. But I have a hard time planning, at least in the way that people who run their own companies and […]

by Jon Swanson

People often follow before they believe.

Twelve guys signed up to follow Jesus. Sometimes another teacher sent them. Sometimes a friend invited them. Sometimes a family member invited them. Sometimes Jesus himself invited them. We can see all four ways in a few sentences in the first chapter of John. One big story, four individual stories. (A video version.) What becomes clear as […]

by Jon Swanson

Psalm 1.

When you pick up a book of poetry or a book of song lyrics, you have to work. You cannot read Gerard Manley Hopkins or W.H. Auden or Bono the same way you read Malcolm Gladwell or Donald Miller. With poems, you have to stop often, read out loud at times, look in your heart […]

by Jon Swanson

Writing for you and me

When I sit down to write 300 words, I often don’t know whether I’m writing for you, for me, or for both of us. Sometimes the writing is for me. It’s therapy. It’s working out what’s going on in my life. Sometimes the writing is for you. It’s teaching or challenging. Sometimes, the very best […]

by Jon Swanson

what are you learning?

Saturday nights and Sunday mornings, a couple groups I’m part of discuss the previous week’s sermon. It’s not to criticize, it’s to explore. I decided to let you sit in on our questions from last week. Pastor Bill was talking to our high school graduates. I wanted our adults to think through some of the […]